You
are poling along in ten inches of water, being as quiet as humanly possible.
The angler on the deck has twenty feet of line outside of his rod
tip and his favorite fly in the other hand ready to cast at the first
sign of redfish. You look to the east and the sun is just peaking
the horizon, shadowed by a few cumulous clouds that greet the Space Coast
each summer morning. You think to yourself, "Can it get any better
than this?" Seventy feet off the port bow, you spot nervous water that
eventually produces a coppery figure one can only recognize as a redfish
tail. As you ease the boat in their direction, another tail appears,
then another. You are on a school of reds this is what you came for.

The
sun is rising fast behind the boat and the light illuminates the coppery
mass of fish. At sixty feet, the angler begins his cast and lays
his chartreuse and white #2 Clouser Minnow on the edge of piscatorial
bliss. One strip, two stripsâ¦the line goes tight and
the school of fish erupts causing the slick calm surface to come to life.
The school of redfish is on alert and aware of their hooked friend.

What
do you do now? Your buddy has hooked a single redfish from a school
of nearly fifty. You can see the school motoring away from the boat
like there is no tomorrow. After congratulating your buddy and reviving
the tired friend from the lagoon, your thoughts turn to that school of
reds that is now gone.

Redfish,
as most lagoon anglers know, are somewhat territorial. Recent studies
have shown that redfish can spend their entire life span within six miles
of their birthplace. What some anglers don't realize, is that schools
of reds will often "double back" to the original location after being
spooked. While fishing the Mosquito Lagoon this spring, I encountered
two large schools of slot sized fish- approximately 75-100 fish in all.
These fish were holding in slightly deeper water adjacent to very
skinny flats. The first hook-up of the morning was almost a sure thing.
The fish were tailing and very aggressive to anything that landed
within their lair. As the morning wore on, and sun warmed the flats,
the fish stopped tailing and simply laid-up.

The
sun shone bright and I could only marvel at the fact that I could track
this school of fish from 100 feet or more away from the boat. Careful
approaches to the same school of fish produced strike after strike from
one of the Indian River's most opportunistic feeders. After a couple
of hours of constant action, I took notice that this same school of reds
had taken me in a complete circle-twice! On each pass, the reds
settled back down into the same exact spot I found them at sun-up. In
fact, this school of fish never moved more than 100 yards for the four-hour
period they were fished. Granted, the results may not have been
the same if there were other boats in the area, but they were definitely
setting a pattern for me to key in on for the next day's trip. Weeks
went by and the same school of reds was located each morning. They
liked this area and were determined not to leave.

This
same scenario has played out time and time again on the Mosquito Lagoon
over the years. It makes me wonder how many anglers acted in haste
to find the next "hot spot" for reds.

Wintertime
on the Space Coast encourages schooling of slot to just over slot-sized
redfish that stay together through the Spring. As the retched heat
of July approaches, these schools of redfish tend to break up into pods
of two and three. You may encounter more singles than anything in
the summer heat. There are too many variables to be absolutely sure
of when reds will school and when they will not. However, the next
time you are on a school of reds and they spook, chances are they won't
go very far! Be patient, keep the trolling motor off and marvel
at what the Space Coast has to offer.